“Our business is based on solid values: great products with good design, made ethically and sustainably without doing harm to others or our planet” – Lisa and Philip Ingram LittleLeaf Organic Cotton).
Lisa Ingram has a DPhil, four young adult children, and a successful retail business. In 1994, she graduated from the University of Oxford, and in 2017, together with her husband Philip, she launched LittleLeaf Organic Cotton, which won the UK’s 2023 national Small Award for Sustainability. The Award recognises small businesses that demonstrate exceptional commitment to environmental sustainability, and according to Michelle Ovens, CBE, the founder of Small Business Britain and the Small Awards, the judges were impressed with LittleLeaf’s “Inspiring entrepreneurship and commitment in serving customers and their community.”
The business, which is located in the former military town of Bordon in the south-east of England, designs and sells high-quality cotton bedding, clothing (including baby clothes and sleepware), and homeware. Its mission is to provide the highest-quality organic cotton that is fairly made and fairly priced. Accordingly, to distinguish it from the greenwashing competition, it only uses GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified organic cotton and is itself GOTS and Soil Association certified This means that the business is regularly monitored by independent auditors, ensuring that not only are their claims correct, but the cotton is genuinely organic and grown with consideration for both the people who produce it and the environment.
They source their cotton from India, and their products are manufactured there in a factory that is 100 per cent solar powered and certified by the Fair Trade Organisation, ensuring no forced or child labour, health and safety at work, freedom to form unions, equality of opportunity, fair pay, and working hours. As a GOTS-certified company, only low-impact, eco-friendly dyes that do not contain heavy metals or toxins are used, and the factory has a filtration system that cleans the water used in the dying process, allowing 90 per cent of it to be reused. However, as Lisa recognises, it is the deep knowledge of the organic cotton industry and the decades of expertise put into practice every day by their Indian eco-warrior partner and his team that ensure only the finest long staple cotton enters their supply chain and “makes LittleLeaf organic cotton simply the best you can buy”.
Apart from ensuring the production process does not damage the environment or harm those producing or using their end products, LittleLeaf has committed to plastic-free packaging as it is concerned about the impact of plastics and artificial fibres on the environment. All of their packaging, therefore, is made out of either organic cotton or recycled card and paper that is fully recyclable. As one satisfied bed set customer observed, “it’s absolutely lovely. The fabric is so soft—it’s amazing quality. It’s all beautifully packaged without plastic in a cotton bag.
Since launching LittleLeaf in 2017, Lisa and Philip have always wanted the venture to have a charitable component and have supported several charities. In 2021, they set up a charitable commitment so that a proportion of sales went to a named charity, the first recipient being Harrys HAT, a charity established to make life better for children born with hydrocephalus—water on the brain.
LittleLeaf Organics is not only fully deserving of its Sustainability Award but is clearly a harmonious profit-making enterprise that ensures people and the planet are not harmed in the process of “making as much money as possible.” Rather than just satisfying its shareholders, it considers the interests of its stakeholders, including its customers, employees, suppliers, and all of those concerned, to address the sustainability challenge. Accordingly, it addresses SDGs 13 (Climate Action), 14 (Life Below Water), 15 (Life on Land), 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing) and 1 (No Poverty).
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